Leonard Burtman (1921-1994) was a pioneer in fetish publishing in mid-20th century New York. Founding Burmel Publishing, he launched iconic magazines like Exotique, blending high fashion with BDSM themes. Despite legal challenges and allegations of piracy, Burtman expanded his empire, shaping modern kink aesthetics and influencing future adult content until the 1980s. Continue reading Leonard Burtman: America’s Underground Fetish Publisher
Charles Gates Sheldon (1888–1960) didn’t set out to be a fetishist. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, he trained at the Art Students League in New York under luminaries like George Bridgman. By 1916 he was already the go-to illustrator for The Ladies’ Home Journal, turning out soft-focus cover girls in pastel and charcoal that made every reader believe beauty was just one sigh away.But Sheldon wasn’t … Continue reading Charles Gates Sheldon
Charles Guyette (c. 1900–1976) was a pioneering theatrical costumer who transformed his New York shop into America’s first full-line fetish supplier by the mid-1930s. Notably, he offered handmade fetish items and imported European designs. After a prison sentence for obscenity, he shifted focus but inspired key figures in American kink culture. Continue reading Charles Guyette
Paul Prött (c. 1880–1945), a German artist, transformed personal tragedy into a powerful voice in Weimar erotica. His works, influenced by his WWI experiences, melded commercial design with BDSM themes. Prött’s stark black-and-white pieces, featuring raw power dynamics, anticipated later kink aesthetics, making his originals highly sought after. Continue reading Paul Prött
Brassaï (1899–1984), originally Gyula Halász, was a prominent photographer known for his haunting nighttime Paris images. During the 1930s, he created exclusive photographs for Diana Slip Company, capturing elegant, erotic poses in luxurious lingerie. His work significantly contributed to the fine art status of vintage fetish photography. Continue reading Diana Slip – Brassaï
Grundworth Studio, active from 1890 to 1930, emerged as a pioneering force in erotic photography amid Europe’s repressive atmosphere. Utilizing secrecy to navigate societal constraints, it specialized in proto-BDSM themes, capturing the interplay of vulnerability and desire. Despite fading into obscurity by the 1930s, its provocative works now resonate within the BDSM Art Archive. Continue reading Grundworth Studio
William Goldman (1856-1922), a respected photographer in Reading, Pennsylvania, documented both middle-class life and the clandestine world of a nearby brothel. His intimate, compassionate portraits of sex workers reveal raw human vulnerability, presenting a contrasting narrative to societal norms. Goldman’s secretive work offers profound insights into early 20th-century American hypocrisy. Continue reading William Goldman
Count Theodore Béla Rudolf Zichy de Zich et Vásonkeő (1908–1987) was a Hungarian aristocrat who became a prominent figure in British society as an actor, photographer, director, and playboy. Renowned for his fetish photography, particularly featuring women’s feet and footwear, his 1948 work Chiaroscuros defined his artistic legacy, blending eroticism with high art. Continue reading Count Zichy
Claude Cahun, born Lucy Schwob, challenged gender norms through her art, adopting an androgynous identity. A pivotal figure in Surrealism, her self-portraits explore identity, sexuality, and power dynamics, forging paths for queer theory and feminist art. Cahun’s work, overshadowed during her life, gained recognition and inspires contemporary artists today. Continue reading Claude Cahun
In the colonial cradle of Puebla, Mexico Juan Crisóstomo Méndez Ávalos was born on May 12, 1885. Raised amid the city’s textile mills and fervent Catholic fervor, young Juan apprenticed at fifteen in the German import house of Soomer & Herman, surrounded by crates of optical wonders and photographic paraphernalia. This immersion ignited a passion that would eclipse his formal training in drawing at the … Continue reading Juan Crisóstomo Méndez Ávalos
Exotique was a specialized fetish magazine published by Leonard Burtman under his Burmel Publishing Company imprint in New York City between 1955 and 1959. The magazine’s femdom theme, photos, and artwork mark it as a direct descendant of the first major fetish magazine Bizarre (1946-1959), produced by John Willie. Exotique was entirely devoted to fetish fashions and female-dominant bondage fantasies. The 36 issues featured photos and illustrations of dominatrix-inspired vamps (including wife Tana Louise and iconic model Bettie Page) wearing exotic leather and … Continue reading Exotique by Leonard Burtman
This collection shows the fetishistic and perverse influence of the underground “roughie” film genre, like Olga’s House of Shame (working on that one). I did my best to combine multiple fragments. Compilation This compilation shows fragments from the following films:View on Archive.org The Defilers (1965) Two young thugs kidnap a young girl and keep her in the basement of an old warehouse where they forcibly … Continue reading 60’s Sex & Fetish Exploitation
